by David Brenneman
"Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear; But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me." Psalms 66:16-20.
There's those who have given up on prayer because they say that God never answered them.
There is a frame of mind that is to be remembered when we pray.
God isn't a genie. He isn't there to just give us what we ask for.
God isn't our personal butler. He isn't an Alfred to our Batman.
God isn't off somewhere too busy with others that He's got no time for the rest of us.
God does come close to the broken-hearted. Psalms 34:18 "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.".
God's will will be done throughout history. Psalms 33:11 "The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.".
Think on these things...notice He preached this to everyone, not just to the Disciples nor specifically to the Jewish leaders.
"When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:1-12.
Look at how things are for those who are close to God even. Not even they at times hear immediately from God. Read in the latter chapters of Daniel. He was told he was highly esteemed by God and yet a reply was delayed by spiritual forces.
We are to pray without ceasing. There's good reason to do this in that in time our requests are refined. We lose some aspects of what we are asking and enrich those aspects that are worth talking to God about.
Consider this my Dear Reader.
"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him." 1 John 5:13-15.
Asking in prayer according to His will.
There's still yet going to be prayers that won't be answered not because of anything we have done or not done. Not because of obedience or disobedience. For whatever His reasons, which we should accept for He is God and we are not, we just may never know this side of Heaven. For all we know, as the Scriptures are written, Job didn't know of why he lived through such a tormented period in his life until after he died.
I can tell you from experience that simply because our desires do not fit into His plans and His purpose for us that some answers will be no for only those reasons.
Lest we forget...the Bible must be completely fulfilled throughout human history until time is no more. There are things that are needing to happen in our corner of the world that He is directing to happen. Our prayers will not change that. My Dear Reader this is absolutely not saying that our hearts are not in the right place. Our reasoning might see absolutely nothing wrong with our requests. But He is seeing the whole picture that we cannot. Our hearts may very well be in the right place. We could indeed be very much living life in complete obedience to God's Word...and still be told or shown that the answer is no. This is where trusting in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight comes in.
Read about it for yourselves...there got to be a few times where even the Apostles couldn't heal people. That even they couldn't perform miracles. We don't consider ourselves as remotely close to being on their level.
In the opening portion of the model prayer Jesus points out our priorities to keep in mind while praying.
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:9-10.
What did we read earlier? If we ask according to His will...
Our intentions might indeed be holy right and true. Doesn't mean that we're going to receive an automatic yes.
Some people have been angry at God because of not having received what they prayed for in a loved one dying rather than them being healed and living. My Dear Friend...in as much as your heart is aching...Jesus's is going through that with you. You are far from alone in that.
In a movie from years ago there's a scene where the main character was supposedly given all the powers of God. Things got to the point where even when he gave everyone what they prayed for...it wasn't enough. This character gets to a point of wanting to give those powers and abilities back...that he cannot understand how God is able to do all that He does to handle humanity.
My Dear Reader...there's much wisdom in that statement.
We as finite humans cannot fully understand the things of God. Saved people begin to learn the things of God through growing in Christ and relying on His will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Begin to learn. We will still spend eternity being taught by God when eternity begins for us.
Those who aren't saved are not going to understand the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. You have to be spiritually alive first.
While the pain and hurt is real to us...so it is for Jesus. Jesus, we read, was a man of sorrows well acquainted with grief.
Lastly...and this is important...Jesus prayed a prayer that His own Father said no to. In the garden before He was betrayed. The Father’s plan had to be the way it was in order to save you and I. The Father had to say no to His only begotten Son. The thing is no part of the trinity wanted that separation, that heaping of all the sins of humanity upon Jesus to save humanity. But it was absolutely necessary.
Some of the things that I have prayed about...sometimes God tells me why the answer is no. Sometimes He doesn't. Regardless I must trust that He knows what's in mankind's best interests for His will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Let go of whatever is between you and Jesus if there be anything you are mad about.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
This isn't always easy to do but it is the most necessary for our relationship with Jesus.
Any root of bitterness regardless of why...destroys relationships.
Jesus is never absent from our lives for any reason. It's on us to trust Him and live for His will to be done.
All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.
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